Eat healthier while travelling on a plane

Taking control of what you eat and drink during your next flight can help you arrive feeling refreshed. Here are some tips to consider for your next trip:

Eat on schedule: When a flight takes you across time zones, manage hunger by keeping to your usual meal schedule based on your point of origin. You’ll be less apt to skip or double up on breakfast, lunch or dinner. For the rest of your journey, adjust to local time and continue eating three evenly spaced meals and one or two snacks per day.

DIY in-flight snacks: Airports are hardly the place to shop for healthy take-aboard meals and snacks; so, to avoid the hassle, just bring your own good stuff. Especially for long flights, choose foods that are compact, nutrient-dense and high in fibre. Fibre has zero calories and it digests slowly, which is why fibre-rich foods like fruits, vegetables and nuts are lighter and more filling than processed foods.

Drink more water: Flying dehydrates the body and so does drinking alcohol and caffeine, which are diuretics. Your best bet is to sip plenty of water in-flight, which hydrates without calories. Bring an extra bottle or two because staying hydrated will help you arrive energised and avoid nasty symptoms of dehydration such as dry skin, fatigue, constipation and headache.

Choose hydrating foods: In addition to drinking water, choosing foods with high water content will also help keep you hydrated and feeling full longer. Fruits, vegetables, leafy garden salad with a chicken or tilapia, cucumber slices dipped in fat-free cottage cheese, or raspberries with fat-free plain Greek yogurt are good options.

Fight stress with portable comfort foods: To relieve some of the anxiety that comes with air travel, bring along foods rich in healthy, stress-reducing omega-3s like cold poached salmon and steamed vegetables; and for a snack, walnuts and edamame are great choices.

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